Stair pad



P r N. STEIN 2,427,631

STAIR PAD Filed April 18, 1946 INVENTOR N CA H STEIN ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 16,, 1947 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE STAIB PAD Noah Stein, Jamaica, N. Y.

Application April 18, 1946, Serial No. 663,187

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the stair pads.

It is known to use stair pads, sometimes called stair cushions, with independent stair tread and riser (kick plate) portions. The stair tread portions are often provided with padding to assure a cushion which is soft to the tread. The stair tread portion is sometimes backed by a suitable stiffener on the under side to which it is sewed, and the edges secured together by a metallic reinforcing strip. In using such known stair pads, it has been found that the padding shortens the effective flat portion of stair tread and is a cause of accidents, and, moreover, that continuous treading on the stair pad breaks the stitching between the backing and the overlying fabric as a result of which the fabric breaks away from the edge reinforcing strip.

The improved stair pad of the present invention overcomes the foregoing difficulties and has the following highly desirable characteristics: (1) The stair tread portion and the riser portion are continuations of each other and made from a single piece of fabric, such as carpeting or the like; (2) the stair tread portion and the riser portion are interchangeable; (3) the complete absence of padding provides a larger treading area and insures maximum safety; (4) the fabric is glued or cemented to the backing near the edges and prevents the fabric from breaking away from the edge reinforcing strip, thus assuring longer life for the stair pad; and (5) the cost of manufacture is less than stair pads having independent tread and riser portions.

A better understanding of the invention may be had from a reading of the following description in conjunction with a drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a stair pad made in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 shows the stair pad of the invention in place on the step and adjacent riser of a staircase; and

Fig. 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawing the same parts are represented by the same reference numerals throughout the figures.

The improved stair pad of the invention comprises a fabric facing I composed of carpeting or the like, which is backed up at its front and rear portions by stiffeners 4 which may be made of fibre, cardboard or wood, and secured together at the edges by a pair of three-sided rigid metal lic reinforcing strips 2. The metallic strips 2 are channel-shaped in cross section and enclose the front edge and rear edge as well as small areas of the side edges of the fabric I. These strips are also provided with holes 3, 3 for enabling nails to fasten the stair pad to the step and riser. Those portions of the fabric l which overlie the stiffeners 4 are cemented thereto over the entire contacting surface of the backing A.

It should be noted that when the stair pad is in place on a stair-case, as seen in Fig. 2, the rear portion of the stair pad rises only a relatively small amount on the stair riser to formv a kick plate, while the rest of the stair pad forms the tread portion. The entire tread portion of the stair pad is flat, and thus insures maximum tread area and safety. The cementing or gluing of the fabric I to the backing 4 prevents the fabric from breaking away from the metal strip 2 under continuous use.

Because the tread and riser portions of the stair pad are made from a single piece of fabric, these portions are interchangeable. Putting it in other words, if the tread portion shows signs of wear, the stair pad can be raised by removing the nails, and reversed in position so as to interchange the riser and stair portions with the fabric I facing up. What was then the stair portion will now be the riser portion, and viceversa. It Will thus be seen that the stair pad can be used for a longer period of time than other stair pads which do not have this reversible feature.

I claim:

1. A stair pad comprising a continuous piece of carpeting of such dimensions as to overlie the tread and a substantial portion of the riser of a step, a pair of stiif, flat, fiber backing strips, one of said strips underlying and adhesively secured to the lower face of said piece along one edge thereof, the other strip being similarly secured to the opposite edge, said edges and said strips having substantially the same size and shape and said strips having their edges alined with the edges of the piece of carpeting and extending away from said edges of the piece for a substantial distance, and channel-shaped metal reinforcing strips receiving and clamping the opposite edges of the pieces of carpeting and the edges of the backing strips, said reinforcing strips having a shallow U shape in plan View, the ends of one of said reinforcing strips being spaced a substantial distance from the ends of the other, and the inner edges of the backing strips being spaced a substantial distance apart, there being a substantial intermediate area of flexible carpeting.

2. A stair pad comprising a continuous piece of carpeting of such dimensions as to overlie the tread and a substantial portion of the riser of a step, a pair of stiff, flat and non-flexible backing strips, one of said strips underlying and secured to the lower face of said piece along one edge thereof, the other strip being similarly secured to the opposite edge, said edges and said strips having substantially the same size and shape and said strips having their edges alined with the edges of the piece of carpeting and extending away from said edges of the piece for a substantial distance, and channel-shaped metal reinforcing strips receiving and clamping the opposite edges of the pieces of carpeting and the edges of the backing strips, said reinforcing strips having a shallow U shape in plan View, the ends of one of said reinforcing strips being spaced a REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,292,889 Saponofi Jan. 28, 1919 1,921,781 Sachs Aug. 8, 1933 2,033,483 Sachs Mar. 10, 1936 

